Doctors are more trusted than politicians or NHS managers and can persuade people that changes to their local NHS services are necessary in order to improve care and save lives, Mike Farrar, chief executive of the NHS Confederation said.

He urged politicians in marginal seats not to fight local hospital changes where they will improve care.

He told the Daily Telegraph: "I think there are doctors who are much more prepared to stand up and make the case for change.

"I wonder how MPs will feel if they have a doctor stand against them saying it is a scandal that they are campaigning to save local hospital services when they know it would save lives to make changes.

"I think doctors should stand. MPs cannot put politics before the health and welfare of their populations.

"No one political party has the moral high ground, they all have marginal seats that can be fought on this.

"In my career politicians, and I won't give any examples, have invented hospital closure stories in order to mount campaigns. That kind of naked politics is desperate.

"What worries me is that in the next two years this won't get easier it will get harder. We will get people saying they will go further and be braver after the General Election but we cannot wait that long.

"I want there to be an all party consensus on not fighting change where there is a good clinical case. They all have vulnerable seats and should take a responsible view and let the health service talk to the public on these issues.

"That would be hugely helpful because the risk is that they are going to cause trouble for each other and everything will get delayed again.

"The inertia is frustrating but we do need to consult with the public."

Dr Richard Taylor, who won the Wyre Forest seat in 2001 by campaigning against the closure of Kidderminster Hospital A&E, is launching a new political party National Health Action to fight against privatisation and marketisation of the NHS.

The party is planning to put up doctors in several marginal seats and against key Coalition figures in a bid to disrupt reforms under the Health and Social Care Act that will see more private companies running NHS services.

He said the party had not formed formal policy yet on changes to services but he personally would support cases where the motive was to improve patient care but would oppose them where the aim was solely to save money.

He said: "We have got to separate financial reasons for making changes which can hardly be justified from good clinical reasons that for patient safety changes are necessary. We need real medical leadership on this and for doctors to get into politics is crucial.

"We need to change public opinion that changes are for patient good and doctors are in the best position to do that."

The party has already had interest from professors of medicine, paediatricians, public health doctors, physicians and GPs, Mr Taylor said.

Changes to A&E services in Dr Taylor's area are planned again with a local campaign already launched to prevent Redditch A&E being moved. Dr Taylor will not be drawn on whether he plans to stand again in a 2015 General Election.

Karen Lumley, the sitting Conservative MP, narrowly won the Redditch seat from Labour's Jacqui Smith in 2010, and the issue is likely to become a key battle ground again.

Meanwhile Paul Burstow, Liberal Democrat MP for Sutton, Cheam, and Worcester Park is already campaigning to save his local hospital's A&E and maternity units after losing his position as health minister in the recent reshuffle.

Mr Burstow said: "The most successful reconfigurations are led by clinicians and well established leaders in their local communities and set out a compelling case for change.

"The reconfiguration in my own area is a classic car crash and has failed on all those points. It has not been made clear what will replace the services that close and is based on gross misconceptions of how many people who go to A&E do not need to be there.

"Mine is not a sentimental opposition."

A review of services locally as recommended that St Helier Hospital become a centre for planned elective surgery and that A&E and maternity services should be centralised at St George's Hospital in Tooting, Kingston Hospital and Croydon University Hospital.

A spokesman for the British Medical Association said: “The focus of debates on reconfiguration should always be clinical evidence, not financial or political considerations.

"The question should always be ‘Will this change lead to better care and better outcomes for patients’? It can be frustrating when the debate shifts away from that question, and becomes party political.”